Editorials
Wednesday, June 25, 1997IN a column on this page yesterday, Dan Thomasson, the editor of Scripps Howard News Service, decried the sentencing of three young people in Florida to 15 years in prison for allegedly removing a stop sign where three other youths later died. Thomasson said the case illustrates a national judicial system "flawed by inconsistency, overzealousness and emotionalism." The veto of a pay raise
for judges was wrongIn a period when crime and law enforcement are major concerns, the role of the judiciary is vital -- not only to punish the guilty but also to protect the innocent. The people who serve as judges should meet high standards of competence and devotion to the cause of justice. They should be outstanding members of the legal profession -- and paid accordingly.
The same day that column was published, Governor Cayetano vetoed a bill increasing the pay of state judges for the first time in seven years. The governor cited the state's fiscal constraints as justification for his decision, as well as the "high three" system of pensions for judges, which was not affected by the measure passed in the last session.
But the total cost of the judges' raise -- 4 percent a year for three years -- would have been only $1.7 million; Cayetano approved $239 million in increases for unionized public employees. Chief Justice Ronald Moon pointed out that the proposed judicial pay raise would have been just 0.7 percent of the raises the governor OK'd. To raise the austerity issue in this context is absurd.
Moreover, the judges' pension system isn't a problem because they are full-time employees, unlike the state legislators who could abuse the "high three" to get a full-time pension based mainly on their part-time service.
Perhaps more to the point than Cayetano's financial argument is the fact that the government employee unions are major players in state politics and the governor needs their support in the next election. There are too few judges to make a difference at the ballot box.
There can't be any other people in government service -- or in most private firms, for that matter -- who haven't had a raise in seven years. The state Judicial Salary Commission reported that the salaries of federal judges have increased 38 percent in this decade. In the last five years, the commission said, eight Hawaii judges have left the bench for higher paying positions.
District Court judges earn $81,780; the chief justice earns $94,780. Those aren't starvation wages, obviously, but in terms of buying power they are substantially less than seven years ago because of inflation. That translates into a pay cut. Is that how Hawaii values its judges? If we expect to attract high-quality lawyers to the bench, we have to pay them better. The governor is wrong.
WALL Street takes every remark by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan very seriously. Ditto for Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. A response by Hashimoto to a question after a speech in New York sent the stock market into a nose-dive Monday. Hashimoto's remarks
Fear of Japanese control of the U.S. economy has dissipated with the retreat of Japanese investors from the U.S. market. But the reaction to Hashimoto's remarks illustrates the reality that the U.S. and Japanese economies are intertwined and that leaders of both nations must collaborate on economic issues.
IN the battle to reduce the federal budget deficit, too much effort has gone into reforming the welfare system for the indigent and not enough into reforming welfare for corporations. In the current debate in Congress over tax cuts, one glaring example of corporate welfare has been targeted: ethanol. Ethanol subsidies
Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, wants to eliminate two subsidies for the corn-based substitute for gasoline. Archer has an uphill fight even though he heads the Ways and Means Committee. But it's time to kill this boondoggle.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
